Your National ID Number Was Last Seen at a Roasted Plantain Stall

When I finished university, I joined the countless fresh graduates in Uganda who hit the streets with CVs and printed cover letters in hand.

We'd walk from office to office, dropping applications at reception desks—hopeful, determined, and often exhausted.

Weeks would pass. Then months. Silence.

One afternoon, after a long trek submitting applications, I stopped by a stall to grab some roasted plantain. The wrapping? Someone’s job application.

Name. Contact details. Grades. Aspirations—all exposed.

It stopped me cold. Was this how our personal documents were being treated?

Thankfully, times have changed.

Today, many recruiters have embraced online portals, email submissions, and applicant tracking systems. There’s more structure. More efficiency. And in many cases, more care with data.

But not everywhere.

In some settings—especially informal hiring processes or legacy systems—applicants are still asked to submit photocopies of national IDs, passport bio pages, academic transcripts and more…before even being shortlisted.

And it's not just recruitment.

In land transactions, property sales, and even everyday service applications in Uganda, individuals are often required to hand over personal documents like:

• National ID photocopies

• Passport pages

• Signed personal statements

• LC letters and more

Often with no clear explanation of why, or how that data will be stored, protected, or destroyed.

So here’s the real question:

In an age of growing digital awareness, are we still taking physical PII data for granted?

Because when we casually collect—and carelessly store—documents with sensitive information, we expose people to identity theft, fraud, and personal risk.

Progress is being made. But vigilance is still needed.

Let’s build a culture across industries where:

• Data is only collected when necessary

• Individuals know why it’s needed

• Storage and disposal are taken seriously

• Privacy is seen as a right, not an afterthought

Not to point fingers—but to spark curiosity:

Could your personal data still be floating around somewhere... long after you handed it in?

Until we ask those questions, our identities will remain one careless handoff away from becoming someone’s food packaging.

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Until next time, I remain yours stealthily, TheCyberMamushka 🥷

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